Transport services typically involve all means of land, sea and air transportation, such as automotive carriage, airplanes, ships and rail. Passenger transportation is sometimes referred to as carriage transport. Shipment of goods refers to transporting everything other than persons and is sometimes referred to as a consignment. The present invention has application to greatly improving efficiency in managing and providing any kind of transport or transportation-related services. The most common application for the invention is in managing and providing for the transportation of persons or goods. For simplicity, the terms “persons or goods” or “passengers or goods” are equivalent and intended to include the terms “persons and goods” and passengers and goods,” respectively.
Transport companies are broadly defined to include those persons providing transportation services for passengers or goods, that is carriage transport and/or consignments. Transport companies are also known as forwarding agencies, which may own or rent the vehicles, which broadly include trucks, buses, automobiles, ships, trains airplanes, etc., used for each mode of transportation. Transport companies typically offer transportation services at a fixed price or at a price determined by a fare schedule. Persons desiring transport services either as a passenger or to ship goods typically select from the routes, times, and prices offered by these companies.
By utilizing a combined or centralized management system, the preferred embodiment of the present invention makes all modes of transportation more efficient. By centralizing safety, security and background information and employing that information for each sale of transportation services, the preferred embodiment promotes traffic safety and obedience to transport rules and regulations. Such centralized management enables monitoring the technical operation and equipment used to provide transportation services, and this will also improve safety. Monitoring, in turn, improves the delivery of the transportation service and its reliability for persons using the services.
The preferred embodiment of the present invention serves passengers by empowering them to efficiently select from a variety of transport services, which are often available in densely populated areas. It offers persons the capability to identify the fastest transportation services available to reach the destination for them or for their goods being shipped. It enables customer feedback to a responsive organization, that is, the single administrative office, for example to contribute to the transport safety by means of their observations and remarks. Passenger and transport company registration provides a high level of security both in the identity of the passenger and the transport company employees providing service. The preferred embodiment provides a higher level of service for persons not satisfied with the standard transport and its benefits. It enables effective choices from among a myriad of transportation services in densely populated areas to avoid wasted time in traffic jams. The greater efficiency offered by the invention translates to reduced customer expenses for transport.
The preferred embodiment of the present invention serves the transport industry by implementing superior management and assignment of equipment used to deliver transportation services. It maximizes the capacity for transport, which also reduces the impact on the environment due and creates opportunities for using the equipment for other services. It enables transporters to reduce costs of transport execution, for example through reduced administrative expenses, through better route management which lowers cost incurred for fuel and minimizes noise and air pollution. The preferred embodiment enhances transport business operations by providing an efficient means to offer customer discounts to attract business, through reliable receipt of customer payment, through a centralized system for implementing security of both its employees and its customers, through provision of improved equipment to print, issue and confirm transport tickets so as to minimize the potential for ticket misuse or improper manipulation.
The present invention serves the transport companies, their customers and society by implementing a centralized registration and verifying the identity of the persons seeking and providing such services. Such registration and verification minimizes the potential for crime in providing and using transportation services. It enables greater control to prevent improper manipulation of vehicles and auxiliary equipment used in providing transportation services. Further, by centralizing data on a variety of modes of transportation, the present invention enables quickly solving problems that arise when one mode is affected by a disabling event, such as a workers' strike, and then enables immediate identification of available alternatives, improving the flow of commerce.
Accordingly, the present invention will serve to improve the prior art by enabling optimized selection of transportation services. It provides the means to consider all of the important variables affecting prompt and reliable service by a transport company.